What you are demanding is incredibly expensive, especially #4 and #6. #2 would necessitate an incredible amount of arbitrage (i.e., increase prices even further) because it would severely impact their ability to maximize parcels shipped. #5 is available from both UPS and FedEx...for additional cost (on the recipient). If you really want #9, then you may end up with $100/parcel pricing.
Of course, there are companies that do everything you indicate you want. But if you don't know who those companies are, you clearly can't afford them. Alternatively, you can use the USPS, which does almost everything you describe above except #5.
> What you are demanding is incredibly expensive, especially #4 and #6.
Useful tracking needn't be expensive. The delivery driver knows when he's heading to my house. Even just telling me his lat/long at the point when he leaves the delivery prior to mine in a text message would allow me to usefully calculate where my parcel is.
> #2 would necessitate an incredible amount of arbitrage (i.e., increase prices even further) because it would severely impact their ability to maximize parcels shipped.
I'm fine with that. Like I said elsewhere, this is costing me £30 to send. I'd have happily spent £100 to get it done fuss-free.
> #5 is available from both UPS and FedEx...for additional cost (on the recipient).
Again, fine with additional cost. I've used it from UPS before and it didn't work.
> If you really want #9, then you may end up with $100/parcel pricing.
I'm more than happy to pay it.
> Of course, there are companies that do everything you indicate you want. But if you don't know who those companies are, you clearly can't afford them.
Yes, you're right, I'm not wealthy enough to be able to afford a hassle-free shipping experience. I know of plenty of companies who will bike a parcel to anywhere in the UK for me directly for an amount I could afford. I could speak directly to the driver and have him call the recipient when he arrives. That's not the point.
The point is that it takes 90 minutes to fly to Scotland from London. It would cost me about £80 return.
I've been sitting at home for 5 hours waiting for this package to be picked up. It is costing me £30 to send.
It cannot be the case that we live in a world where it is genuinely more convenient for me to fly by plane for three hours in order to give someone a box than to have a professional courier do it for me.
>> #2 would necessitate an incredible amount of arbitrage (i.e., increase prices even further) because it would severely impact their ability to maximize parcels shipped.
> I'm fine with that. Like I said elsewhere, this is costing me £30 to send. I'd have happily spent £100 to get it done fuss-free.
It's not enough that you want to pay £100... there have to be enough customers willing to pay £100 to balance out the loss of customers who would pay £30 (as well as the decrease in unit volume that would result), and there probably aren't.
For the major couriers, there probably aren't. For a new courier service who approach the market from the top up rather than the bottom down, who knows?
At least here in the US, such services exist - there are high-touch courier services that deliver same-day with very high service levels. They're also very expensive and used by almost nobody other than bankers, lawyer and advertising firms that can expense the costs to big corporate clients (and even then, the firms will generally use a normal carrier unless the package is very timely or sensitive.)
Most people don't want to pay the $6 or so for UPS shipping... Paying $200 would restrict your customers to a very small part of the market shipping very high-value goods (jewelry, bearer bonds?)... I wonder if even armored car shipping is that expensive on a per-item basis.
There are a few in the UK but it's usually inner-city or highly personal: they don't make use of overnight vans so for me to pay for something to go to Scotland from London via one of these guys is going to cost me a whole lot more than $200.
I disagree. Trite comparison, but: "Most people don't want to pay the $999 for a Pentium PC… paying $1999 would restrict your customers to a very small part of the computer market." If you offer the quality I bet it's possible to make a really profitable business out of it. Think how many times these items are important: heck, I just wanted my TV so I could play Battlefield 3, but I'd have paid more than I did to get it sent to me. How much would people pay to not have a crummy experience with a courier if they used a courier a couple of times in a year?
Not suggesting I know the answers, but I think it's an interesting area for innovation.
I don't disagree that folks would pay more for a better experience, but I think they'd pay a few bucks - maybe up to double. Not 10X. Paying $200 for shipping would be like paying $10,000 for a PC to play BF3. Most people who can spend money like that have someone who takes care of their shipping and receiving, because their time is valuable.
Consider this: for $50, you could probably get someone who lives on your street to sit around all day waiting on your behalf for your package to arrive.
Of course, there are companies that do everything you indicate you want. But if you don't know who those companies are, you clearly can't afford them. Alternatively, you can use the USPS, which does almost everything you describe above except #5.